


I See Dead People

by Charlieboy2107



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Childhood Trauma, Dead People, Protective Siblings, Triggers, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-04 00:26:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17888033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlieboy2107/pseuds/Charlieboy2107
Summary: Klaus Hargreaves's (Number Four's) ability to see/speak/hear the dead comes to light during dinner.





	1. Number Four

The first time Number Four realized what his power was when he was five years old and he figured out that no one else could see Sally. It had come to pass by Number Two practicing with his knives at the dinner table despite their father’s warnings. The first time Number Two missed the target their father didn’t even look up from his newspaper. The second time, the knife slashed one of the priceless paintings hung in the dining room and father threatened to send him to his room. The third time it hit a couch, impairing a cushion only a few inches away from Sally. 

“Careful!” Number Four shouted. 

“No shouting at the dinner table Number Four,” their father mused from behind his newspaper. 

“But he almost hit Sally!” 

“Who’s Sally?” Number Three asked. 

“She’s my friend!” 

“Looks like he has an imaginary friend!” Mother mused sweetly. 

“I will have none of that childish nonsense,” their father boomed as he slammed the newspaper down onto the table. 

“I don’t see how it hurts anything…” Number Seven murmured. “Why can’t he have an imaginary friend?”

“But she is real!” Number Four cried, pointing to where Sally sat waving at him. 

“That it enough Number Four. You will stop this at once!” Their father demanded. 

“No!” Four screeched. “Sally protects me from the others! She keeps them away!”

“He’s crazy…” Five muttered under his breath. 

“What others?” Six asked. 

“The scary people. They’re very angry,” Four said, looking around the room to make sure none of them were around. 

“These people aren’t real dear,” mother said, moving to comfort the now distraught Four. 

“Don’t comfort him,” their father commanded and Mother moved back. “He must learn to not believe in these fantasies. What are you looking at?”

Number Four was staring past his father’s shoulder in terror. 

“Go away,” he whimpered. 

“I will not tolerate this sort of disobedience Number Four!” 

“He’s here.”

“Who’s here?” Six asked. 

“The angry man.”

“What’s his name?”

Four looked at the man behind his father with the melted face. “He says his name is Thomas. Thomas Aldritch.”

Father paused and turned to Mother. “I know that name. Do a search,” he ordered. 

“Thomas Aldritch. One of the victims of the nuclear plant accident three moths ago. The news articles I’ve found say he is the primary suspect for who caused the explosion.”

Number Four covered his ears, “Stop shouting!”

“Nobody’s shouting,” Number One said, looking around at the others in confusion.

Father looked back at Number Four. “What is he saying?”

“He’s very angry about Mother saying it was his fault. He says he didn’t do it.”

“Who else do you see?” Father asked and Four shook his head. “Please. Don’t make me talk about them. They show up when I think about them. Ah no! Sally!” Four cried, pointing to the new ghost. 

“Yes. Sally. Who is Sally?” Their father demanded. “What’s her last name?”

“If I tell you, will you let me stop thinking about them?” Four questioned, flinching as two more figures appeared behind Number Six, a couple holding hands with water spilling from their mouths. 

“Yes,” Father replied. “Now tel us her name.”

“Watson. Her name is Sally Watson.”

Father looked to Mother and she closed her eyes for a moment before stating, “Sally Watson. The name of a child who was abducted twelve years ago. Her body was found two years later, buried in a campsite. She died from a blow to the head.”

Number Four watched as Sally raised her hand to her hair, moving aside her curls to reveal a dent in her skull. 

Four whimpered. 

Father clapped his hands together. “Finally! Children, we have discovered your brother’s power! It seems he can see the dead.”

“And I thought you couldn’t be anymore of a freak,” Five sneered. 

“That’s quite enough Number Five. Number Four, stop crying.”

Four curled into himself on his chair, his eyes squeezed shut and his hands over his ears in an attempt to silence the now dozens of souls that surrounded him, each shouting for his attention. 

Number Seven grabbed his hand, pulling it away from his ears and forcing him to listen to her. “Focus on my voice okay? Imagine them going away.”

Their father stood from his chair. “No helping him Number Seven, He must learn to control his power himself.”

“I can’t!” Four cried. “Daddy please. Protect me from the scary people!”

Father stormed to him, grabbing him by the ear. “Pogo, call for the car.”

Four should have known what he was in for when his father actually pulled him into a hug during the car ride. 

“Where are we going?”

“A small trip,” his father responded, rubbing Four’s shoulder comfortingly. 

“Without the others?”

“This mission is only for you. Do you think you can handle it?”

“I don’t know…”

“I need you to do this. Can I trust you Number Four?”

That’s the thing about being raised by an eccentric millionaire that adopts you and six other children and doesn’t give any of you names. There’s this feeling that you need to prove yourself so he might finally show you the love parents are supposed to have for their children. 

“Whatever you need father.”

“Good. Driver, pull over here.”

“Where are we?”

The door opened and Number Four realized where they were. 

“No. No wait. Father please!”

“How are you ever going to be able to use your power unless you get over this ridiculous fear of yours,” he said, pulling the child out of the car after him. 

Number four whipped around, looking at all of the figures roaming around the graveyard as his father led him to a mausoleum. 

“No please! I promise I’ll be good! I’ll learn to control it! Just please don’t leave me in there!”

Father shoved him into the crypt and pushed the doors until there was only a sliver of light remaining to keep him from getting out. 

“I’ll be back for you in the morning,” he stated and slammed the doors, descending Four into darkness and screams. 

When the doors opened the next morning, Four was curled onto the floor, hands over his ears as he convulsed. 

“Have you gotten over your fear?”

Number Four didn’t move from his position. 

“You will answer me when I speak to you child.”

Four sat up slightly, leaning on trembling arms. 

“Can I go home?” He asked, voice hoarse from a night full of screaming. 

Father sighed. “I suppose this has been enough for now. We will pick this back up again tomorrow. And again and again until you get over your fear.”

Number Four was too tired to even speak his terror at the idea, and just stood to follow his father to the car. When he got home, Four could see the shadow of his siblings’ feet in the gap between their door and the floor, all of them too scared to interfere until their father had left. 

“Get some sleep Number Four. You are excused from today’s lessons so we might prepare for your specialized training.”

His father closed the door behind him and with the curtains shut, it felt like he was stuck in the mausoleum again and he began to weep. 

It was at this point that his door opened and Number Six and Number Seven snuck into his room. 

“It’s okay,” Number Seven said coming to cradle him in her arms. “You’re alright.”

Number Four shook his head, but kept his eyes squeezed shut. 

“Is Sally here?” Number Six asked and Number Four nodded, eyes still closed. 

“Is she keeping the dead people away?”

“She IS dead!” Number Four cried. “They won’t shut up! Any of them!” 

“You’re okay,” Number Seven said comfortingly, hugging him tightly. 

“We will protect you,” Number Six said, moving to lie on the bed beside the other two. 

A bell rang from outside in the hallway, a signal for the beginning of today’s lessons. 

“Please don’t leave me,” Number Four cried as his siblings filed out of his room, leaving him alone in the dark.


	2. First Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Umbrella Academy go on their first mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know nothing about the comic book canon of how they got their names so this is just my head cannon of how it happened.

When the children were seven years old, father sent them on their first mission. A school shooting had broken out on the other side of the city and their father claimed that by being able to blend in with the students, they would be able to defuse the situation faster than the authorities could. 

As the car broke all speed limits on the way to the school, father drilled them in their roles in the mission. 

“Number Three?”

“I will keep the authorities out of the way to make sure they do not jeopardize the mission and then aid in the capture of the shooters,” Three stated, siting up straight and keeping eye contact as their father demanded. 

“Good. Number One?” 

“I will lead Two, Three, Five, and Six to take out the shooters,” Number One said with perfect clarity, ever the golden boy. 

“Excellent. Number Four? Number Four!”

The others turned towards Four, who had his eyes closed and headphones over his ears. He could usually be found in this state, a defense mechanism he had taken up to block out the dead. 

“Number Four!” Father repeated and Number Seven squeezed Four’s hand that was held in hers, making him open his eyes and remove his headphones. “What is your role?” Father fumed. 

“I will speak with any deceased victims of the shooting to find out the location of the shooters,” Number Four muttered numbly.

“A little more enthusiasm Number Four,” father boomed, “your role is essential to the mission!” 

Four nodded before slumping back against the seat, leaning into Number Seven who squeezed their still intertwined hands. 

A few minutes later the car slowed and the doors opened as the arrived at the school. 

“Don’t forget your training!” Father said as the children filed out one after the others. He held up his cane to stop Seven from following the others. “You will stay here.” 

“But I can help!” 

“You will only make matters worse. I will not repeat myself again.” 

As the six children entered the school through a window, Number Four was bombarded with the sound of screaming and crying children. He spotted an adult who looked like a teacher and approached her. 

“Tell them to be quiet! You don’t want to catch the bad people’s attention do you?”

“Who are you talking to?” Six asked and Four looked back at the teacher, his eyes trailing down to her bloodstained shirt. He looked over to all of the crying children, noticing the bullet holes that riddled their clothes. 

They were all dead. 

“Ask then where the shooters went you freak,” Number Five said and Number Three elbowed him in the side. 

Number Four swallowed deeply and walked over to one of the weeping children. “Which way did they go?” 

The preschooler looked up at him, eyes wet with tears. “I want my mommy!” 

Four winced at the shout and shook his head, repeating his question and this time the child pointed towards the hallway, muttering between sobs. 

“They’re in the cafeteria,” Number Four muttered weakly and Number One clapped him on the shoulder. 

“Good work Number Four. Now stay here, Five will flash back here if we need you.”

Four’s heartbeat quickened. “Please don’t leave me here with them!” 

“You’ll only get in the way,” One said. “Stay here.” 

After the others left, Number Four slid down the wall in one of the corners of the classroom and covered his ears, hating father for making him leave his music in the car. 

A second grader ran up to him, shouting something about the bad men and within a few seconds he was surrounded and being screamed at by kids ranging from preschool to middle schoolers. 

“Leave me alone!” Number Four cried, but his acknowledgment that he could see and hear him only made them get louder. 

“I want my parents!” 

“Help us!” 

“I’m scared!l 

Four squeezed his eyes shut to avoid looking at the grotesque injuries of the children and stayed that way until he felt a kick to his shoe and he opened his eyes to see Five standing above him. 

“Come on crybaby. We gotta get out of here before the cops show up.” 

“Did you stop the men?” Four said, voicing the question of most of the dead people surrounding him, his voice loud to be heard over their shouting before he realized Five would have no trouble hearing him. 

Number Five nodded. “It wasn’t too hard. Adults are stupid and make more mistakes than we do. Now we gotta go. Father said that we aren’t supposed to let anyone see us.” 

Four stood, ignoring the thank you from the dead teacher as he passed the children and followed Five out the same window from they’d came. The two caught up with the others as they ran across the playground and piled back into the car. Number Four took his spot next to Number Seven, who quickly pulled him into a hug, whispering that he would be alright. 

“Number One, status report.” 

“Mission was a success father, we intercepted the shooters and I mobilized them for the cops.” 

“Well done children. Training has been cancelled for the rest of the day. You are free to spend it as you wish until dinner.” 

The children thanked their father one by one as they left the car upon arriving back at the academy, where mother waited in the entryway with hot chocolate and Pogo stood with a towel for cleaning up any blood that the children dragged into the house. 

“Wash up children!” Mother chirped, wiling away the blood that was dripping from Number Six’s hair onto his face. “My goodness you are a mess,” she said with a laugh. 

When dinner came around, Number Four didn’t move from under the pile of blankets in the closet in which he had hid himself. Number Seven covered for him at dinner, saying that he was sick and father sent Grace up to treat his symptoms after dinner was finished. When she entered his room, her scanning allowed her to identify his location immediately but through one of the loop holes in her programming she was able to make a game out of it. 

“Now where has my little ball of sunshine gone?” 

A quiet sniffle came from the closet in response and she moved to kneel down next to the pile of blankets. 

“Are you hiding?” She teased sweetly. 

“I don’t want them to find me!” Four whimpered. “They scare me!” 

A look of sympathy appeared across Grace’s features and she placed a hand over the top of the blankets. 

“I think I might know something that will make you feel better.” 

A tiny pair of eyes popped out of the pile of blankets to show he was listening and she continued. “Because of you and your sibling’s success today. Your father has decided that it is time for you to have names.” 

It wouldn’t be until years later that the children would realize that their father didn’t do this out of kindness, but so he wouldn’t be seen as having dehumanized the children by identifying them by numbers once the Academy went public.

“But I do have a name,” Number Four said confused. 

“Yes, but you can choose another if you want,” mother said.

“Did the others choose to have names?” Four asked and Grace checked the update in her programming that father had sent after dinner so she could refer to them by their new names. 

“Number One has chosen to be called Luther, Two is Diego, Three is Allison, Six is Ben and Seven is Vanya.” 

“What about Five?” Four asked.

“He has chosen to keep his number. So how about it little one, what would you like to be called?” 

“I want to be called something happy and nice,” he said. “I want to be called Grace like you!” 

“That’s a girl’s name idiot.” 

Four looked up to see Five standing in the doorway. 

“So?”

“You’re not a girl.”

Ben shoved Five away and came to sit next to Four and Grace. 

“Don’t listen to him, he doesn’t know anything. It might be a bit confusing though if you and mom have the same name.” 

Number Four hadn’t thought of that. He looked around the room for inspiration, his eye catching in his Christmas stockings. Mom and Pogo has given each of the children one secretly as father didn’t bother celebrating any holidays. Four pointed to the stocking, 

“I want to be called Claus, like Santa!” 

“You can’t be called Claus,” Luther said from the hallway, “Father won’t like it.” 

“Shut up One-Luther!” Allison corrected as her and Vanya pushed into the room. 

“If you cant be called Claus, how about something like it?” Vanya pondered. 

“Like...Klaus?” Four asked hesitantly and the others smiled. 

“Klaus it is, I will inform your father. Now get to bed children,” she said as she stood up and brushed off her skirts. “You all need your sleep before training tomorrow.” 

“It’s nice to meet you Klaus,” Ben said as he held out his hand. 

Klaus wiped his eyes of any remaining tears before grasping the outreached hand and smiled. 

“And you Ben.”


	3. Numb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Umbrella Academy goes public and has an unexpected effect.

The students of the Umbrella Academy and their parents were introduced to the world when they were twelve years old. 

A bank heist was going down at the center of the city and the children quickly took charge of the situation. 

“I heard a rumor…” Allison drawled. 

“Real men throw knives,” Diego teased.

“Or what?” Five taunted. 

“I didn’t sign up for this,” Ben complained as he closed the door behind him, a silhouette of tentacles appearing a moment later, followed by screams.

A man appeared before Klaus, making him jump. The guy’s chest had a hole torn through it. 

Luther returned from escorting the hostages out the door and winced at the screams. 

“Isn’t it done yet?” He complained before saying more loudly, “Ben, if you’d please!”

A moment later the last scream cut out and the sound of retracting tentacles back to the hell from whence they came filled the air before the door opened and a blood soaked Ben peered out. 

“Can we go home now?”

“Not yet,” Luther said. “Father wants us to introduce ourselves to the media remember?”

The others nodded and Five disappeared for a moment before coming back with a long line of paper towels that he handed to Ben to clean himself off. 

After they were all presentable, the six children exited the bank to face the wave of police and reporters.

When they got back to the Academy, the block was swarmed with reporters and paparazzi. 

“What are your names kids?”

“What are all of your powers?”

“You’re all freaks!”

Five whirled around at the last comment, looking ready to fight when father held up his hand. 

“Don’t engage Number Five,” he said, gesturing for Vanya to escort Five through the front doors of the Academy as Father turned to address the media. “I ask you all to respect our privacy. I will choose a selective newspaper outlet in which to give the exclusive of my Umbrella Academy. That is all.” 

His statement brought a hundred more questions but he simply moved into the entryway of the Academy and closed the doors. 

“I think that went quite well,” he stated simply before walking towards his office, leaving the children staring after him. 

“Typical,” Allison said, rolling her eyes before she walked off towards her room, with Luther following quickly behind. 

“Five bucks on what they’re gonna do,” Diego teased before going to meet up with mom, who was cleaning in the living room. 

Ben, Vanya and Klaus exchanged looks, and after a moment, they all went off towards their rooms. Klaus paused in front of his door, not wanting to be alone. 

Vanya turned, looking back at him. 

“I was thinking about listening to some music. You want to join?”

Klaus smiled and him and Ben followed Vanya into her room. 

The tree of them were laying on the floor of Vanya’s room, listening to a record when a woman appeared in the room, her clothes soaking wet, making water drip onto the floor. 

Klaus shot up and the other two looked at him in confusion. 

“Klaus?”

“You guys don’t see her?”

“See who?”

Klaus squeezed his eyes closed, hoping that the woman would be gone when he opened them again, but he could still hear water from her wet clothes dripping onto the floor before he even opened his eyes. 

“What are you doing here?”

The woman looked down at him in confusion, “I was just…” 

She looked down at her wrists. And Klaus saw the cuts running vertically up her arms. 

“Did you-“ 

Klaus didn’t want to finish the sentence. 

“Klaus?” Ben asked, drawing his attention. “Is there a new one?”

“I was watching the news…” the woman said slowly as she tried to piece together her last moments. 

“You killed yourself because of the news?” He asked. 

“That’s dark,” Vanya commented. 

“I saw the man who took my baby…he was on the news….he called it the Umbrella…something.”

Klaus’s heart stopped. “The Umbrella Academy?”

“Yes! That was it! The man who took my child-“

“Sir Reginald? Was that his name?”

She nodded. 

“What are they saying Klaus? Who are they?” Ben asked. 

“Some French lady. She says she saw us on the news, and recognized father as the guy who took her baby.”

“Where am I?” The woman asked, “I was in France…”

“You’re at the Umbrella Academy,” Klaus answered. 

Vanya’s eyes widened. “Is she one of the biomoms?” Vanya asked and the woman’s eyes widened. 

“My child is here!” The woman exclaimed. 

Klaus’s heart was beating out of his chest, and it took him a moment to realize that the other two were waiting for him to fill them in. 

“She thinks one of us is her kid.”

“Was it a boy or a girl?”Vanya asked, voice catching. 

Klaus looked to the woman in a silent repeat of the question. 

“Boy,” she said, her eyes brimming with tears. “I was so young. I wasn’t ready to be a mother. This rich man came and offered me money and by the time I realized by mistake, I had no way of finding out who he was or where he was until I saw the man on the news today.”

“Well there’s five boys, and there’s no way of-“

“Yes there is,” Ben interrupted. “Pogo has files on all of our adoptions. It would say her name on the documents wouldn’t it?”

“But how would we get them? Father never lets us in his office-“

“Five,” they all said in unison. 

“He could sneak in and out of the office if we distracted Father,” Ben noted. 

“But he’d never do it,” Klaus said. 

“Yes he would,” Vanya argued. “We just have to make him think we don’t believe he can’t.”

“His ego will get him in trouble one day,” Ben sighed.

The next day during training, the children made their move. With father distracted by their individual training sessions, Five vanished from the training room before reappearing with a document file in hand. 

Vanya, Ben, and Klaus quickly looked over the files. 

“What did she say her name was?” Ben asked. 

“Martine Léonie,” replied Klaus. 

“What are you guys doing?” Five said suspiciously. 

“Here!” Vanya said, looking at one of the papers before gasping and handing it to Klaus, pointing to where it said that the woman was the biological mother of-“

“Me,” Klaus said in shock. 

“Oh my god Klaus, she’s your mom.”

Klaus wasn’t sure whether he wanted to tell her when he got back to his room. He had made the woman-his mother, promise not to follow him around the house like all the other dead people he say did. He paused outside his door, hand resting on the doorknob. 

“Klaus?” Came Martine’s voice from inside. “Is that you?”

He opened the door before he could chicken out. 

“Did it work? Did you find out which one of you are my son? Diego? Luther? Ben?”

“Me.” Klaus said. 

“You?” Martine asked. 

Klaus looked down at his feet, not wanting to see the look of disappointment on her face. A pair of bare feet appeared in his eye view , a phantom puddle of water forming around them.

“I was hoping it would be you,” Martine said, and Klaus looked up to see a blinding smile on her face. 

“You are?”

“I didn’t want to get my hopes up until we knew for sure, but I am so happy that it’s you mon petite!” 

Klaus smiled back, both moving to hug each other before realizing at the last moment that they couldn’t as she fell right through him. Not wanting to ruin their reunion, the two of them sat down on his carpet and he told her about his siblings and his power until dinner. 

For the next week, Klaus spent every free moment from his training talking with his mother. He told her about his childhood, and she told him about her live and about where she had lived in France. 

“Do I have any other family?” Klaus asked one day and Martine shook her head sadly. 

“After the day you were miraculously born, some people in our community believed our family were worshippers of Satan. One evening while I was still in the hospital, a group of extremists came and set fire to our home while my family slept. None of them made it out.”

A tear trailed down Klaus’s cheek. “I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault.”

“No,” his mother said. “No mon petite, it’s not your fault. The blame is entirely on those who decided to enact such violence.”

“That’s why you gave me up?” Klaus asked and she nodded. 

“I was so young, and I had just lost my family. This man came to the hospital and offered me money for you and I foolishly accepted. I wanted to keep you safe from the people who hurt my family, but also to separate myself from you. You were a reminded or what happened. It wasn’t until years later that I realized I had made the wrong choice, that she should have stayed together. I did my best to search for you but the man have never even told me his name. When I saw him on the news, everything just came flooding back and I couldn’t-“ She looked down at her wrists before hiding them behind her. Klaus wanted nothing more than to have his mother hug him and say that everything would be okay and that she would never leave him again. “I’m so sorry mon petite,” his mother cried and Klaus’s eyes filled with tears as he finally said the one thing she had been waiting for,

“I forgive you.”

She let out a sigh of relief, and Klaus’s eyes widened as her clothes visibly dried and the blood and wounds on her wrists disappeared. 

“What’s going on?”

“I think you’ve found peace,” Klaus said softly. 

“What does-“ Klaus’s mother began to fade, and soon enough he was able to see his bookshelf through her. 

“No!” Klaus cried. “I don’t want you to leave! We just found each other!”

“I’m sorry mon petite, I love you,” she cooed as she vanished completely. 

Klaus fell to his knees and let out a scream, hitting the floor with his fists as his eyes burned from tears. 

“Klaus! What’s wrong?” Ben asked as he barged into his room. 

“She’s gone!” Klaus cried, throwing a book at the wall. “She left me, again!”

Five came running into the room. “Hey, you need to shut up if you don’t want father to hear you. You’re gonna wake up the whole house!”

Klaus only wailed louder as he smashed the water glass that had been in his night stand. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Five asked and Ben quickly explained. 

“I’m sorry Klaus,” Five said in an unusual moment of sympathy. 

Klaus didn’t respond and the boys could only watch as he began to yell at what looked like empty space to them. When his mother had been here, she had made sure that the rest of the dead left him alone. But with her gone, they had returned with a vengeance, screaming at him to help them. 

“Leave me alone!” He screamed, voice cracking. 

Five disappeared for a moment before reappearing with something held behind his back. 

“What do you have?” Ben asked. 

“From what I understand, adults drink it to feel better,” Five said, revealing the bottle of vodka he had swiped from their father’s office. 

“Five, no way. We could get in trouble.”

“I don’t care,” Klaus said, finally acknowledging them as he stomped over and swiped the bottle. “Whatever will make them go away,” he added as he lifted the bottle to his lips and downed half of it before coming up for air. 

“How do you feel?” Ben asked hesitantly. 

Klaus fell back onto his floor and closed his eyes.

“Numb.”


	4. Brother Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus is 19 and sent on a mission

Klaus was nineteen the first time his father sent him to rehab. Well, his version of rehab, which was to lock him in a mausoleum until the drugs left his system. When he sent the car for Klaus the next morning, they found him unconscious on the ground with a gash in his head. He had hit his head against the wall again and again until he rendered himself unconscious to shut off the voices. 

Grace treated Klaus’s wound when he come back to the academy while father shouted his normal rant about Klaus throwing away his potential. Klaus nodded along numbly, playing the apologetic son so he would be allowed to return to his room where a stash of pills were waiting for him in several different hidden locations. 

“Have you been listening to anything I’ve been saying Number Four?” 

“Yes father,”

No he hadn’t. 

Klaus’s attention had was divided between his symptoms of withdrawal and the screaming dead child standing in the doorway of the room. 

“You’re such a disappointment Number Four. Go wash up. You have a mission later today and I need you to look at least somewhat acceptable.”

Klaus nodded, willing to say anything to get this conversation to end. 

When he got back to his room, Klaus made a beeline for his stash of pills in his dresser but found it cleared out. He moved to his closet, lifting up a ceiling tile to find that hiding spot empty as well. 

Number Four began to shake then, his withdrawal symptoms making his skin crawl. He had one last resort. Klaus barged into Five’s now shrine of a room and slid a hand into the space between the wall and dresser where he had taped a bag of pills to the side. 

Nothing. 

“What the fuck?!” Klaus shouted as he went back to his room and began to tear it apart. 

“Stop it Klaus!” Allison shouted from the doorway and he turned towards her with crazed eyes. 

“Where are they Allison?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh you know what I’m talking about. My pills!”

“Father said you need to stay clean for your mission,” she said quietly. 

“I don’t care about the mission!”

“How could you say that?” Allison said with watery eyes. 

“Oh stop it with the water works. I need a fix. What did you do with them??”

“We threw them out Klaus,” Luther said wrapping an arm around Allison in support. 

Klaus felt like he was on fire. 

“Listen, normally I wouldn’t care about how controversially close you two are,” Klaus said through gritted teeth, “but at the moment I swear that I will go straight to father if you don’t help me get some drugs.”

“Alright that’s it,” Later said and grabbed Klaus, throwing him over his shoulder before walking off toward the bathroom. 

“Let me go!” Klaus screeched, clawing at Luther despite knowing it wouldn’t hurt him. 

Luther threw him into the tub and held his shoulders down, shouting for Diego to come hold his feet while Allison switched on the shower, spraying Klaus with cold water. 

“What the hell are you doing?!” Vanya shouted. 

“Making him come to his senses,” Luther said, shifting so he could hold Klaus down better. 

“Alright enough!” Klaus shouted, shivering in his cold wet clothes. The others let him go and Vanya held out a towel for him. “You all suck,” he snapped as he headed back to his room, his footsteps making a squishing noise. He stopped outside of Ben’s room, his door was ajar as he sat on his bed. “Fat lot of good you were Ben,” he scoffed and the boy turned to look at him. “You help them tear apart my room in their drugs bust?”

Ben jumped to his feet. “I-“

“What are you doing Klaus?” Vanya asked. 

“Oh you know, just calling out my so-called brother for standing by while our other siblings waterboarded me.”

“It wasn’t waterboarding,” Diego commented. 

“Do you have anything to say in your defense?” Klaus asked Ben, who just stared wide eyed at him. 

“Who is he talking to?” Allison asked. 

“Ben,” Klaus replied. “Duh. Did you guys get rid of my stashes by taking the pills? You’re all acting weird.”

“Ben?” Luther asked and Klaus nodded, gesturing to their brother. The others looked into the room and then at each other. 

“So-he really is….” Diego stuttered. 

Allison broke into tears and ran off to her room, Luther going after her. Vanya and Diego looked at each other before walking away from Klaus and Ben. 

“What’s up with them?” Klaus asked, collapsing onto Ben’s bed. His brother shrugged before sitting on the edge of the bed. 

“Are you okay?” Ben asked. “You don’t look so good.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I feel fine,” Klaus lied and Ben rolled his eyes. 

“I know it’s not easy for you to be sober Klaus, but maybe this is good.”

“Good?” Klaus asked. “I know it sucks being connected to a demon from a hell dimension, but at least you are able to be alone. I’m never alone. I am haunted in every waking and sleeping moment by the often horribly brutalized bodies of the dead. The pills are the one thing that quiets the voices so I don’t go completely insane-LEAVE ME ALONE!” Klaus shouted at the growing hoard of plane crash victims that had followed him home after one of the Umbrella Academy’s recent missions. 

“Klaus?” Grace questioned from the doorway. “Your father would like to speak with you my sunbeam.”

Klaus sighed and lifted himself slowly off the bed. If he had stayed in the room a moment longer he would have seen Ben’s face pale as his gaze landed directly on the hoard of screaming dead plane passengers. 

“I had no idea,” Ben whispered before quickly following after Grace and Klaus. 

“You wanted to see me?”” Klaus asked when he entered his father’s office, noticing that his other siblings were already there. “I thought we had cut down on the family boding time,” he teased. 

“Can’t you ever be serious?” Luther asked. 

“Number One!” Father snapped. 

“Woah,” Klaus laughed. “I must have really done something wrong if you’re telling off your favorite in my defense.”

“Klaus please,” Allison begged. 

“What? Why are we here? Is there mission?”

“You’ve already completed it,” father announced. 

Klaus looked over at the others. “Well? Is anyone going to tell me what it is? Vanya?” He asked. His sister looked the floor. “Ben?” He tried again, and the others looked at one another. “What?” Klaus asked. “What did I miss?”

“Ben-“ Diego started. 

“I was on a mission…” Ben started, looking confused. 

“He-um….” Diego continued. 

“I tried to call on my power…” Ben said. 

“Number Six disappeared on his mission,” Father started, ever the heartless bastard. 

“Okay. So how did you find him?” Klaus asked. 

“I felt this terrible pain...” Ben said, his hand raising to his chest. 

“We didn’t Klaus,” Diego said. 

Klaus frowned. “Okay, but he’s back now,” he said, gesturing to where Ben stood. “So what’s the problem?”

“Klaus,” Vanya whimpered. 

“Oh my god,” Ben muttered. 

“Ben, he-“

“I died,” Ben whispered. 

Klaus’s gaze shifted to Ben. “What are you talking about? I don’t-“

“Klaus,” his father interrupted. “Number Six went on a solo mission and did not return. Your mission was to sober up enough so you could confirm that he is now deceased. Which you have.”

“No,” Klaus said. “No, he’s right-“ he looked over Ben’s form, seeing no visible injuries that were typically seen on dead people. 

“I’m dead,” Ben repeated, looking up at Klaus with tear filled eyes. 

Klaus lunged towards him, watching as his hand passed through his hand. “No,” he exclaimed in horror, backing away.

“Klaus,” Ben said, reaching for him. 

“No. You’re dead?” Klaus asked, ignoring the reactions of his father and siblings of what to them looked like a one sided conversation. 

Vanya reached out a hand to him like she used to when they were younger, but he shrugged it away. Ignoring his father’s calls as he raced out of the room and out the front doors of the Academy. 

The streets were more crowded than they usually seemed since Klaus wasn’t high or drunk enough to block out the dead, and he found himself weaving through open spots, likely confusing the living with his actions. 

“Klaus?” 

He turned to see Ben materialized beside him.

“Woah. How did I do that?” Ben asked, looking down at himself. Klaus ignored him and continued walking. “Klaus talk to me.”

Number Four covered his ears and turned onto another street. When he finally uncovered his hands and looked around, Ben was gone. 

Klaus kept moving, unsure of where he was going when a man grabbed his arm. 

“Klaus?” The man asked and Klaus tipped his head to the side. He recognized the man somehow, but was unable to place from where. 

“Who-“

“Bryan?” The guy said. “We met at the club?”

“Oh right,” Klaus said, pretending to remember meeting him while in reality, he was in way too much of a drug haze to remember anything. “It’s nice to see you again.”

Bryan smiled at him. “You snuck off so early the other day, I didn’t get the chance to thank you.”

“Thank me?” Klaus asked and the man nodded. 

“It’s not often I get to be with someone as pretty as you.”

Number Four’s eyes widened and Bryan wrapped his arms around him, his hand drifting down Klaus’ thigh. Klaus laughed nervously before pulling out of the grasp, taking a few steps away to get some distance between them. 

“It was nice to catch up. I’ll call you-“ Klaus said quickly before taking off. 

“But you don’t have my number-“

Klaus was out of fight before he could even finish and the boy continued to rush away until he was several blocks away before giving himself a breather in an alleyway. 

“Klaus? Klaus what’s wrong?”

He looked up and saw Ben standing in front of him. 

“I lost my virginity,” Klaus confessed. 

“Oh, um…How was it?” Ben asked. 

“Wish I could remember,” Klaus laughed. “I was high and don’t remember a thing.”

“I’m sorry Klaus,” Ben said and the boy rolled his eyes. 

“What? You’re not going to say it was my fault? That I shouldn’t pump myself with poisons if I don’t want this stuff to happen?”

Ben shook his head. “No Klaus. I mean, I think it would be better for you if you laid off the alcohol and drugs, but now that I’m able to see what you have been forced to see all the time…I understand better…I mean…with why you choose to abuse alcohol and drugs.”

Klaus wrapped his arms around himself. “You’re making this really hard for me.”

“I’m what?” Ben asked. “What am I doing?”

“You’re dead Ben.”

“Yeah, I know. I was there.”

“No, I mean. It’s just-now I’m the only one who can see you, and we could kid ourselves that nothing as to change, but death is supposed to separate you from the living, and by continuing to interact…I am denying myself closure.”

Ben’s expression softened and he moved closer, forcing Klaus to look him in the eyes. 

“I promise that I will never leave you,” he laughed lightly. “In fact, you’ll have a hard time getting rid of me.”

And he kept his word. 

Ben was Klaus’ constant companion through the years. Unquestioned from either of the boys was the fact that Ben was able to stick around even when Klaus was drunk/high. 

Ben was there into Klaus’ late twenties, watching as Klaus retreated into himself further and further. He was there when the Umbrella Academy disbanded. There when Klaus read Vanya’s book, both scoffing at some of her more harsh comments about the two of them. Ben was there in the back of the ambulance when the new came about their father, and he was there when a 13 year old Five fell through the sky. 

“You like waffles right?” Klaus asked in the back of Diego’s car?

Ben nodded and when Diego returned to the car, Klaus leaned forward onto the driver’s seat. 

“Diego thank you for joining us. We have decided on….waffles.”

Diego moved his rearview mirror to observe the direction of the backseat that Klaus was talking to but saw no one. 

Ben smiled. He loves waffles.

**Author's Note:**

> I may or may not continue this as somewhat stand alone chapters with different snippets of Klaus as he comes to understand his powers or lack there of throughout the years.


End file.
